Pakistan’s proxy war against India in Kashmir has become the catalyst of clandestine transportation of narcotics into Jammu and Kashmir and then from there to other parts of the country and even abroad. A huge network of drug mafia has come to be formed and its reach is to be found among even influential persons. They have become powerful, so as to defy any measure of the Government to force them to put an end to this clandestine trade. Drugs are highly injurious to health; they imbalance economy of a State. The menace of drug addiction has destroyed thousands of otherwise good and normal families and it rents the very social and economic fabric of a society.
It was in the light of this background that the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act was passed by the Parliament. The Supreme Court of India took cognizance of the matter when it came before it in the shape of a PIL. The Apex Court issued directive to all States including J&K to constitute Special Courts to deal with drugs and narcotics-related cases. J&K, according to the data collected by reliable sources, is among three states of India with largest pending cases under the NDPS Act. Apart from the quantum of pendency, the more worrisome part is that these cases are pending for last five years or more. In the meanwhile in 2013, the Supreme Court of India disposing a PIL decreed that all States including J&K open Special Anti-Narcotic Courts that would exclusively deal with drug peddling cases. It also decreed that where pendency was very large, the hearing of narcotic cases would be undertaken on priority. But what our State did was to raise questions on the order of the SC and send the file from one department to another for opinion. Not at all showing any seriousness of disposing off the cases, the Government remained content with the file travelling from one table to another. No court has been established and no concrete step has been taken towards that end. It seems that the Government is not at all interested in taking measures to uproot the evil of drug trafficking. The result is that drug money continues to pour into the pockets of the terrorists, separatists and their agents.
We hope the administration will pay attention to the irresponsible attitude of the departments involved in the process of constitution of special courts and appoint Nodal Officers to monitor the progress in this regard.
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